First ship to use a new sea route delivers aid to Gaza, Israeli miliary says A ship delivered 200 tons of humanitarian supplies, food and water to Gaza on Friday, the Israeli military said, inaugurating a sea route from Cyprusfor aid to help ease the humanitarian crisis brought by Israel’s 5-month-old offensive in the enclave. Israel has been under increasing pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, especially in the Palestinian territory’s isolated north where hunger is at its worst, with many people reduced to eating animal feed and weeds. The United States has joined other countries in airdropping supplies…

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Europe to use frozen Russian profits to arm Ukraine, Scholz says Ukraine's backers will use windfall profits on frozen Russian assets to finance arms purchases for Kyiv, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said following a meeting with his French and Polish counterparts aimed at showing unity after weeks of friction. At a joint press conference in Berlin, Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reaffirmed their support for Ukraine, whose ammunition-starved troops face their toughest battles since the early days of Russia's invasion two years ago. European support has become increasingly key as U.S. President…

Israeli strikes kill at least 29 Gazans awaiting aid, say Palestinian officials At least 29 Palestinians were killed while awaiting aid in two separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said. In the first incident, Palestinian health officials in the Hamas-ruled strip said eight people were killed in an airstrike on an aid distribution centre in Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip. Later, at least 21 people were killed and more than 150 wounded by Israeli gunfire at a crowd awaiting aid trucks at a northern Gaza roundabout, Gaza's health ministry said. In a…

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine official: two Russian border regions are now active combat zones A senior Ukrainian intelligence official said on Thursday that armed groups he described as Russians opposed to the Kremlin were pressing an incursion into Russian territory and had turned two border regions into "active combat zones". But the governor of one of the Russian regions hit by the attacks said, after a visit to villages in an area, that hostile troops were no longer there. Three Ukraine-based groups issued statements saying they were pursuing armed operations in Belgorod and Kursk regions and asking residents to evacuate localities…